Pinelands is a garden city suburb located on the northern edge of the southern suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa, neighbouring the suburb of Thornton, and is known for its large thatched houses and green spaces. Many are unaware of the significant place Pinelands holds in South Africa’s history, being the country’s first ever garden city. The suburb is primarily residential and is often praised for its peacefulness and abundance of trees. Pinelands is one of the few areas in Cape Town in which sale of alcohol to the public is prohibited, but some clubs have private liquor licenses. It is a popular place for senior citizens to retire to.
The layout of Pinelands is based on the then revolutionary Garden Cities methodology of town planning by the British town-planner, Sir Ebenezer Howard.
According to the 2011 census, the population of Pinelands was 14,198 people in 4,917 households.
Pinelands is just 10 km from the city centre.
Overview of Pinelands, Cape Town
The Genesis of the Garden City Concept
The idea of a new form of city based on economic and scientific principles was postulated by Ebenezer Howard in his book Garden Cities of Tomorrow, published in 1898. The concept, outlined in this book was that an estate could be bought and held in trust, first as security for debenture holders and second, in trust for people of the garden city. He conceived the idea of a planned town with public buildings and a park being built in the centre. Around the park would be situated a great arcade containing shops and other commercial activities. Houses and work areas would be surrounded by gardens and standards of architecture were to be established in order to maintain the beauty of the original site. The shops and factories whilst accessible to workers would be built where they would not spoil the landscape.
The strange and wonderful 19th century utopian suburbs
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Ebenezer Howard's intention was that the community would retain for its own benefit portion of the income derived from commercial sites and by this means be able to establish sites for recreation and leisure pursuits.
The Vision Takes Root in South Africa
Immediately after the First World War, conditions in the urban areas of South Africa were deteriorating rapidly. The diamond and gold rush had brought many people to towns, the Great War had caused sharp rent increases and the influenza epidemic carried off thousands of people in the Cape Peninsula alone.
Richard Stuttaford, a well-known merchant and city councilor of Cape Town, was convinced that better housing and living conditions were necessary to meet these problems and, on meeting Ebenezer Howard, was greatly impressed with the latter's ideas and schemes. As a result, in 1919, he persuaded the South African Government to grant the Trustees of the newly formed Garden Cities Trust 365 morgen of the Uitvlugt Forest Reserve for the purpose of establishing a garden city.
From Sandy Waste to Forest Reserve
During the 1880’s Pinelands was not quite as we know it today; the area was nothing but sandy waste. In the 1880’s, what is now Pinelands was all sandy waste, sporadically covered with wattle.
The farm Uitvlugt was later earmarked as a Forest Reserve by the Cape Colonial Government and tens of thousands of pine trees were planted to control the drifting sands from the Cape Flats, the isthmus between the main body of land and the peninsula proper.
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In the aftermath of the outbreak of the bubonic plague in Cape Town in February 1901, the colonial health authorities invoked Public Health Act of 1897 and quickly established a location in Uitvlugt forest station (modern day Pinelands). Black Africans living in District Six were rounded up under armed guard and taken to the location of Uitvlugt. This area was initially established primarily to quarantine Black Africans who were forcibly relocated after the outbreak of the disease, furthering efforts of the government at the time to push Black and Coloured communities to the outskirts of the city.
Almost 22 years later, the land was then granted to "The Garden Cities Trust" and the founding Deed of Trust was signed in 1919.
Designing the Garden City
Near 1938, a site for the town was established and Trust Deed drawn up to commence the design and layout of the Garden City of Pinelands. Once the site for Pinelands had been determined and the Trust Deed drawn up it was necessary to commence the design and layout of the Garden City and a competition, open to local architects, was held.
The first prize was awarded to John Perry but a number of his designs were later rejected by Sir Raymond Unwin, the planner of the first Garden City of Letchworth. Although the first prize was awarded to John Perry the designs for the layout and various types of houses were rejected after being referred to Sir Raymond Unwin, the planner of the first Garden City of Letchworth.
Letchworth Garden City
The architectural firm which had planned Welwyn were appointed instead under the supervision of Mr A. J. Thompson, the first Supervising Architect of Pinelands sent from England for a two-year contract. The architectural firm who had planned the development of Welwyn were then appointed to develop the Uitvlugt housing project and Mr. A. J. Architect of Pinelands, was sent out from England for this purpose under a two year contract.
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Albert John Thompson, who had experience with building garden cities in England, was consequently hired in 1920 to design the area.
The layout plan for Pinelands followed Howard's broad principles and allowed for plenty of open space. Strict building lines were adhered to and as Thompson foresaw that Pinelands would need more than one railway station, attention was paid to the siteing of these with major roads being planned to lead to them. A small civic centre was located in the heart of the township.
Strict attention was paid to the layout of the suburb’s roads and the need for more than one railway station. The layout plan was based on radiating avenues and relatively large areas used for sidewalks, with green spaces and an abundance of trees.
Many of the road names in Pinelands have originated from local history or from places in England. One such road is named Uitvlugt (original Dutch) after the historical farm of the same name that covered what is now Pinelands. There are also roads named Letchworth and Welwyn after the first two garden cities in England. Other roads in Pinelands are named after places in the Lake District in England, the Royal Family as well as the names of birds, trees and flowers.
Early Development and Community Growth
At the beginning of 1921, the layout of the first section of Pinelands was completed and in August 1921 the Trustees applied for a Government Housing Loan of £200,000 to cover the costs of the first group of houses. However, the Administrator of the Cape, Sir Frederick de Waal, had little faith in Pinelands and would not sponsor the loans for properties to be built in the area.
J.W.P. (William) Logan was appointed the first Estate Manager of Pinelands on 23 July 1922 with a salary of £35 per month and free use of the house he occupied on the estate.
The name of Pinelands itself was suggested by the first Secretary of the Garden Cities Trust as they planned to preserve the pines planted in the area so many years before. The name "Pinelands" was suggested by the first Secretary of Garden Cities Trust, Percy Stuart Horne, in preference to the name "Midwood".
One of the first members of the trust, Richard Stuttaford (head of the department store Stuttafords), made a £10,000 gift donation to serve as capital, and a loan of £15,000 from the government was invested in Pinelands.
"A Piano Comes to Pinelands" was a picturesque headline to a story published by the Cape Argus on 11 February 1922. The sub-headlines read "First house now occupied - others rapidly nearing completion". The pianist was Gurth Cox, an architect, who moved into the first house, No. The house had been completed in mid January 1922 and was roofed with thatch which was then the only roofing material permitted in Pinelands. The first (thatched) house in Pinelands to be occupied was 3 Mead Way and was built in February 1922. The house and entire street, including The Mead were declared a national monument in 1983.
This same year, the first house was completed and roofed with the familiar thatch we see in the neighbourhood today - thatch was the only roofing material permitted in the area.
At the end of February 1922, Dr/Mrs Edith Gertrude Pycroft (later John Perry’s mother-in-law and herself a figure of stature in South Africa’s medical history) occupied "Runnymede" at the north corner of The Mead and then A. J. Thompson took his family to live in what is now "Hampstead" on the corner of Meadway and Forest Drive.
In Forest Drive between Meadway and the Raapenberg Bridge more cottages were built and by February 1922 there were three roads, a main avenue for heavy traffic (Forest Drive), a second for cyclists and lighter vehicles (Central Avenue) and a third for pedestrians. All trees along the roadways were carefully preserved to ensure each roadway was a long natural avenue. Care was taken to preserve the trees and each road was a long, natural avenue.
Each house build was different from the last with its own unique features and layout. The first houses in Pinelands - of which no two were exactly alike - were known for the many differently styled thatch roofs; thatch being the only roofing material initially permitted in the area.
By the end of 1922 there were 24 houses occupied and the population of Pinelands totaled 60. By this time the sum of only £15,000 from the Government Housing Fund had been invested.
On May 25, 1923, four years after the project had been started, General J. C. Smuts laid the foundation stone in Central Square "to commemorate the founding of Pinelands", the first Garden City to be established under the Trust formed by the Union Government and Richard Stuttaford of Cape Town. Richard Stuttaford presided over the ceremony and mentioned that 34 houses had been completed, 49 were in the course of construction, and the total value of properties erected by June 1923 would exceed £100,000.
Central Square in Pinelands
In 1927, the Garden Cities Trust was incorporated as a not-for-profit section 21 company “Garden Cities”. In April 1932, erf. No.509 at 15 Uitvlugt, Pinelands, was surveyed and, in July 1936 for a deposit of £175 against a purchase price of £875, Emily Mary Scotton (later Pelteret) purchased the property.
By that time, Pinelands had grown into a town of over 20,000 inhabitants. The area of the Garden City was 567 hectares with additional land having been acquired by the trustees, Garden Cities, in 1942.
Community and Culture
Until recently, perhaps the most significant feature of the development of Pinelands has been the establishment of a wide range of community facilities and activities. The Garden City built a number churches of different denominations, nursery, primary and secondary schools, homes for the aged, various sports clubs and a large number of social and cultural societies.
Community spirit was always a hall-mark of its society; a society that “looked out” for each other and was charity orientated. Since its inception, Pinelands has been hallmarked by its community spirit and its residents’ neighbourly values, which include always looking out for one another.
There remains a strong bias against “liquor” in the community and as such Pinelands is one of two “dry” suburbs in Cape Town (probably South Africa).
Among the notable features of Pinelands are the community facilities and activities. Fifty years of housing.
To many inhabitants, its wealth of history and the beauty of the early areas established in Pinelands made it important for Pinelands to preserve its heritage not only as the first Garden City laid out in South Africa and as such the forerunner of town planning in the country, as a tribute to a wonderful environment with a unique "old-world charm".
Governance and Municipal Evolution
In order to avoid incorporation into the City of Cape Town, the community of Pinelands voted to create an independent municipality of the then Pinelands Local Board. Pinlands was made a municipality in 1946 and became a suburb of Cape Town in 1996. The municipality was promulgated on 5 March 1948 with Mr. William Gardener, the first mayor.
In June 1997, Alderman Ron Strybis presided as last mayor over the last council meeting. Sadly, with the promulgation of legislation reorganizing local authorities, the independent Municipality of Pinelands was disbanded at that meeting, management control being vested in the Cape Town City Council and later the management of Cape Town Unicity.
Pinelands converted to a municipality in 1948 and in 1996 merged into the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality.
Present-Day Pinelands
The main road is called Forest Drive and the suburb contains two small shopping centres, namely Howard Centre (named after Ebenezer Howard who led the garden city movement) and Central Square.
Dutch Reformed, Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist and Catholic (Society of St. Pius X) churches are located near to Central Square, while Baptist, Church of England in South Africa and mainstream Catholic churches are located elsewhere in the suburb.
Pinelands is served by two Metrorail railway stations: Pinelands station on the western edge of the suburb and Mutual station on the northern edge. The suburb is bisected from the north east to the south west by the Elsieskraal River, which has flowed through a large concrete drainage canal since the 1970s.
The postcodes for Pinelands are 7405 for street addresses and 7430 or 7450 for post office boxes.
In Pinelands there are three public primary schools, each of which is commonly known in the community by a colour: Pinelands Primary School ("The Blue School"), Pinelands North Primary School ("The Red School") and Pinehurst Primary School ("The Green School"). Pinelands High School is a public high school, centrally located in the suburb. Cannons Creek Independent School is a private combined primary and high school. Grace Primary School is a Christian primary school embracing a Charlotte Mason education philosophy.[3] There are three private pre-primaries in Pinelands: Meerendal Pre-Primary, La Gratitude Pre-Primary, Learn and Play Centre Pre-School and Old Mutual for their employees. The high school campus of Vista Nova (a school for children with cerebral palsy and other special needs) is located in the suburb.
Pinelands has sporting facilities including tennis and lawn bowling clubs. Other sports include the cricket and hockey clubs situated at The Oval sports grounds situated on St. Stephens Road just off Forest Drive.
Pinelands hockey club was founded in 1937 and is currently one of the largest clubs in the country fielding 12 men’s teams and 7 ladies teams in the Western Province Hockey Union league. Both the men’s and ladies’ first teams play in the Grand Challenge league with the men's team having won the title for the first time in 2006. In 2008 Pinelands Hockey Club produced three Olympians - Marvin Bam, Paul Blake and Austin Smith.
Pinelands is part of ward 53 of the City of Cape Town.[4] The ward also includes Thornton, Maitland Garden Village, Epping Industria 1, Ndabeni and part of Maitland; the current ward councillor is Riad Davids of the Democratic Alliance.[5] Of the six voting districts in this ward, three of them cover Pinelands: the voting stations are at the Pinelands Primary School, Pinelands High School, and Pinehurst Primary School.
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